Newb here, please help me out!

Purchased a 2016 loaded SL on Friday but won't get it until tomorrow. It's killing me :x

I have been pouring over your forums for about two years but can't find some answers I have questions to. If you don't mind, I could use some help.

What L2 charger should I get? I have a broken L2 from my Volt that's hardwired, and can replace. It goes to two 30 amp circuits so I think I'm good to get a 30 amp L2, but not sure I'll need it. My SCE TOU rates are between 10 pm and 8 am, so 10 hours should be plenty for L2 with a 16 amp charger, no? I'd rather get a cheaper charger as the $500 one I bought for the volt is useless now.

On that note, which is better for the battery? Charging at 120volt, L2 16 amp or L2 30 amp? I thought I read it's not recommended to charge with the DC Fast charger regularly. I'd like to protect my battery as much as possible.

Is it still recommended to only do a 20-80% charge on the new battery? Again, would like to preserve my bat, but that would suck as it reduces range by 40%! This is for a 2016 with 30kw battery.

How does the DC charger work? I know it's about 80% full in 30 min. But if I have 5 bars would it take it to 12 in less than 30 or are you pretty much stuck at 80% full with that charger?

Do the side mirrors fold in electrically on US Leaf?

Will I get floor mats on a loaded SL? I didn't get to see the car I bought as it was at another dealer.

Thank you all in advance!

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2 30A 120V circuits equal 1 240V circuit. Current flows from one split winding to the other and ignores the neutral. 30A requires a J1772 cord with at least #8 wires or in the case of Quick Charge Power 2 pairs of #12 wires. You likely have #14 wires good for 16A.

If you have a broken L2 charger that was for your volt you could fix it by installing a tiny OpenEVSE board. The GFCI coil might also need replacement. It will power both 240VACcoils and 12VDC coils. A Volt draws 14A at 240V so you likely have a 16A EVSE. The OpenEVSE board can be set to 10A or the spec max of 80A in 2A steps. A display is nice but you can have Chris set your board to any current before purchasing it

A 30A circuit is good for 24A ( 80% of 30A). That is very close to the 27.5A of a Leaf.

The J1772 protocol means that the car will adapt to less than its maximum current. I can charge my car from any EVSE. At 10A the car's charger will set itself to 10A ans so will your car.

I charge my eGolf from a 40A EVSE and that is more than the car needs so it ignores everything over 30A.

IIRC, yes you do want to limit your charging to 80% if you want to maximize battery life. However, that of course only applies when the 80% works for the drive you will be doing. Your normal daily commute should fit within this range. When you need longer, go ahead and charge to 100%. The marginal hit to the battery life would be outweighed by the loss of convenience. The key seems to be to avoid having it sit at 100% charge for any material length of time. Hence some people do calculations and use timers to control when the charge starts so that car gets just to about 100% when they unplug to start their day's commute. I wouldn't worry so much about going below 20% - if you do you are obviously using it and worrying about a small change in battery degradation rate is over thinking it IMO, If you establish a good routine for keeping the charge topped at 80%, you will have won most of the battle unless you are seeking to establish new records in terms of battery life on your car.

Regarding the DCFC, yes it can take your car to 100%. But once it gets it to 80% the rate of charge drops off and you aren't charging much if any faster than using an L2 plug. So sitting at the DCFC past 80% is generally frowned upon as you would be blocking someone else from using it.

What happened to your old EVES, can it be repaired, and is it a 20 amp 240 volt or a 30 amp ? Both should be able to charge in the time needed. 3.3 KW should charge to full in less then 10 hours, and you should have something left in the battery when you get home.
on charging the car , IMO having the car fully charged and letting it sit is the worst, next is 4 or more fast charges in a row. If you are road tripping build time into the trip to let the battery cool. One time fast charging has no down side if battery temp is not high. If you are in Ca. there is a wide dc fast charging network use it and enjoy the car.

As others have said, 20-80% is best but if you need more then go ahead, 20/80 is just best under ideal conditions.
It sounds like you may have a 30a circuit so 24a is the max you really want to go. I guess in your case I'd probably go with a 24a Clipper Creek EVSE, probably the most reliable and priced pretty decently. If you wanted the cheapest option then a 16a Ebusbar($299 shipped from Amazon) would give you 16a @ 240v and charge even a 30kwh Leaf in 10hrs. The reason I suggested the CC is it would give you faster spur of the moment charging and is probably more reliable, although I have yet to have an issue with my Ebusbar. Several other people sell 16a 240v EVSEs for ~$300, it's your choice. What I personally like about the Ebusbar is it also works on 120v, something that many other brands(Duosida comes to mind) only charge at 240v.
Side mirrors do not automatically fold in, I guess you can easily fold them in by hand if wanted.
I believe floor mats aren't included even on the SL, I think it's one of those aftermarket things that the dealer makes too much money on....

Get a Clipper Creek LCS-30 to go on that 30 amp circuit. 24 amp charging is max for 30 amp supply.

Thanks for all the info. Let me see if I can describe what I have better. I have a Voltec charger that stopped working. The green light in front stopped working one day. I checked youtube and saw a common problem was the two soldered fuses would blow. A quick check showed them to be good and I did get power to the unit. The unit is hooked up to two 30 amp circuit breakers on my main panel. I assume I can replace the Voltec with a new 30 amp L2 charger and still use the same wiring? Or would I have to upgrade the wiring?

I'd love to be able to fix the Voltec to save some $. All I'd have to do is buy an Open EVSE Board and snap that in? Or is it more complex than that?

Thanks everyone!

voltiar said:

Thanks for all the info. Let me see if I can describe what I have better. I have a Voltec charger that stopped working. The green light in front stopped working one day.
...
I assume I can replace the Voltec with a new 30 amp L2 charger

Click to expand...

Can you please stop calling the above a charger? It's not a charger. It's an EVSE (Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment). For L1 and L2 AC charging, the charger is on-board the car.

Please see http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=14728&p=332668#p332668 and the posts I linked to.

I have yet to get an EVSE, but have the electrician coming Friday to look at my panel and give me a quote on a new 50A circuit with a 14-50 plug. The plug will be within 2' of the panel so the cost of the heavier wire is nil.

I wanted the 50A circuit for a future EV that should charge at a higher amperage than the LEAF.

Still not decided on whether or not to go with a traditional EVSE (plug version) or the upgraded EVSE that came with my 2016 SV.

Comments please

oleviking said:

Still not decided on whether or not to go with a traditional EVSE (plug version) or the upgraded EVSE that came with my 2016 SV.

Comments please

Click to expand...

I'd purchase a separate plug in EVSE. Upgrading your factory EVSE will only give you 16a, woefully less than the 27.5a your Leafs built in charger can go to. The older Leaf EVSEs could be upgraded to 20a but that went away a few years ago

Keep the 120v one that came with the car. Consider it part of the car, and put it away. I do not carry it in my car because I do not want easy $$$ for a break into my car.

Then get the 30A 240v charger of your choice in the garage. It is really an indispensable item when owning a Leaf...

What about the 50A circuit? Also, would a 40A EVSE be a better purchase with the future in mind?

voltiar said:

Thanks for all the info. Let me see if I can describe what I have better. I have a Voltec charger that stopped working. The green light in front stopped working one day. I checked youtube and saw a common problem was the two soldered fuses would blow. A quick check showed them to be good and I did get power to the unit. The unit is hooked up to two 30 amp circuit breakers on my main panel. I assume I can replace the Voltec with a new 30 amp L2 charger and still use the same wiring? Or would I have to upgrade the wiring?

I'd love to be able to fix the Voltec to save some $. All I'd have to do is buy an Open EVSE Board and snap that in? Or is it more complex than that?

Thanks everyone!

Click to expand...

An OpenEVSE board is pretty universal. It has its own power supply and it can drive most relays. You would need to remove the guts to make room. I repaired a EVSE with one.

http://store.openevse.com

oleviking said:

What about the 50A circuit? Also, would a 40A EVSE be a better purchase with the future in mind?

Click to expand...

40a EVSEs are kind of a odd duck, you see many more 30a models because you can get by with the more common and cheaper 10 gauge wire. Just today though Juicebox has a $50 off for Cyber Monday special bringing their base 40a down to $450 shipped and their WiFi model down to $550, a heck of a deal IMO but again only good today AFAIK. It comes with a 24' cable and 6' input 14-50 cable/plug.

voltiar said:

I assume I can replace the Voltec with a new 30 amp L2 charger and still use the same wiring? Or would I have to upgrade the wiring?

Click to expand...

NO! You must have a 40 amp rated circuit for 30 amp EVSE charging at 30 amps.

You must follow the 80% rule to comply with NEC. 40a circuit x 80% = 32 amps max charging.

You will do great with Clipper Creek HCS-30 that gives 24 amp charging. (30x80%=24 amp max) No mods, just connect and charge the car.
This will also work great for any vehicle in the foreseeable future.

Sell the Voltec on ebay for parts. Let that be someone else's headache.